The Market Theatre Presents Breakfast with Mugabe

‘Breakfast with Mugabe’ Premieres in South Africa

The Market Theatre and National Arts Festival present Breakfast with Mugabe, a gripping psychological drama directed by Calvin Ratladi, 2025 Standard Bank Young Artist for Theatre. The play had a powerful premiere at the National Arts Festival in Makhanda, where it was praised for being “thought-provoking” (Groccot’s Mail) and “spotlighting mental health” (City Press). It has since returned to Jo’burg for a greatly anticipated run, at The Market Theatre.

Written by distinguished British playwright, Fraser Grace, Breakfast with Mugabe boasts an exemplary cast that includes Themba Ndaba portraying Mugabe and Gontse Ntshegang as his wife, Grace. Craig Jackson plays Mugabe’s psychiatrist, Dr Peric, while Zimbabwean actor Farai Chigudu takes on the role of Mugabe’s bodyguard.

Critics have hailed the script as a “modern-day ‘Macbeth’” in which Mugabe’s haunted psyche, tormented by the vengeful spirit of a dead comrade, becomes the play’s driving force. Inspired by reports that the former Zimbabwean president once privately sought the help of a white psychiatrist, the play is a fictional imagining of conversations between the probing Dr Peric and his powerful, avoidant patient. As the psychiatrist attempts to pierce Mugabe’s defences, the two men delve into themes of grief, healing, faith, nationalism and legacy.

A timely masterpiece, Breakfast with Mugabe arrives in South Africa as the country undertakes to influence the global balance of forces as an equal international player with a sovereign voice. In exploring the complexities of Mugabe, the script pokes – with theatrical distinction – at uncomfortable continental truths about the degeneration of African liberators into ruthless dictators, the myths around mental illnesses in African societies and the enduring structural violence embodied by colonial systems.

The work further exposes the dangers of former liberation icons ascending to power without confronting their own trauma. It examines the cost of war, the burden of memory and the lingering effects of unhealed betrayal. Weaving between Mugabe’s first and second marriages, the script poignantly fuses the personal with the political, showing how one man’s search for redemption mirrored the collapse of a nation’s dreams.

Additionally, the production sets the tone for a fresh generational conversation about Africa’s future, while staging a provocation, a mirror, a moment of reflection and collective release.

The play’s director, Calvin Ratladi, shares:

“This is not a biography or a courtroom drama. It’s a psychological reckoning—a fictional encounter between Mugabe and a psychiatrist that lays bare the cost of unprocessed grief, the violence of ego, and the burden of legacy. Through sharp dialogue and intense performances, we explore Mugabe not as a historical figure frozen in time, but as a deeply wounded man wrestling with ghosts. Audiences may find echoes of their own leaders, their families, even themselves, in that struggle.”

Ratladi continues that presenting this work for the first time in South Africa has been a full-circle moment, saying:

“This story has lived in the global north for too long without being grounded in the soil from which it draws its spirit. To bring it home now, at a time when African identity, leadership and healing are again up for urgent discussion, is both an honour and a responsibility. It’s also a challenge to our audiences to look again at the icons we’ve mythologised, and to question what stories we pass down about who we are, and who we were meant to be.”

Don’t miss this historic moment in South African theatre, with a cast that understands the assignment.

Breakfast with Mugabe is a co-production of the National Arts Festival, The Market Theatre and Festival Enterprise Catalyst (FEC), in association with the Calvin Ratladi Foundation, with contributing funding from Standard Bank South Africa.

Show Information:
Breakfast with Mugabe

Venue:
Mannie Manim at The Market Theatre

Dates & Times:
17 July – 10 August 2025
Wednesday to Friday at 19h00
Saturday at 15h00 & 19h00
Sunday at 15h00

Tickets:
Tickets from R110 – R220
Half-price specials on Wednesdays
Special discounts apply for groups of four and more

Bookings:
Can be made through Webtickets

Age Restriction:
13